Storage battery.



No. 675,800. Patented lune 4, l90l. G. W. HOUGH.

STORAGE BATTERY.

[Application filed Dec 20, 1900.)

(No Model.)

H EaEfi m 4 u 1 22555555555555? WI E55 E5 no: norms PETERS ccvncrou'rna. WAS masmu,

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE IV. HOUGH, OE EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

STO RAG E BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 67 5,600, dated June 4,1901.

Application filed December 20, 1900. Serial No. A69. (N0 model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE \V. IIOUGH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Storage Batteries, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of storagebatteries in which the active material is applied to plates suitablyconstructed of lead alloy which are submerged in an electrolytic fluid,and has for its primary object to insure a high coefficient as betweenthe charge and discharge, to produce a strong and durable battery, toeliminate as far as possible the danger of short-circuiting resultingfrom the dislodgment of the active material by providing plates of acharacter that will firmly and permanently retain the active material inplace, and to avoid the 11ecessity for the employment of separators asbetween the plates or elements of the battery.

Other objects are to produce a strong and compact battery and oneespecially adapted for stationary use, although also adapted forportable use, as upon motor-vehicles; also, to provide a novel andeconomical form of plate or grid to support the active material, and toprovide for the formation of a substantial and rigid pile therefromwithout the use of separators between the plates forming the pile, andto provide certain other novel features, all as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 represents a plan view of apile of plates for a storage battery embodying my invention. Fig. 2represents a side elevation thereof, showing the same in a cell, whichis shown in section. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the platesor grids, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the severalfigures of the drawings.

I prefer to form the plates of my battery in a pile of substantiallycircular form, although obviously the form of the plates, as well as thedimensions thereof, may vary to any desired extent; but the circularpile afiords a compact and most satisfactory arrangement of the platesof the battery, as I have found from the use of a battery soconstructed. I

also prefer to form the plates of each pile substantially semicircularin shape, as illustrated in the drawings, although if the battery as awhole be square or other form the individual plates forming the pile maybe square, rectangular, or of such other form that when combined willproduce the desired shape of pile.

Referring now to the drawings, let A represent the plates forming thenegative side of the pile, and B the plates forming the opposite side ofthe pile, of which plates there may be any desired number, spaced asuitable distance apart to afford free access of the electrolytic fluidto the active material supported by the plates. All of the plates of apile are of the same form and dimensions, and each plate issubstantially a cup, as will more fully appear by an inspection of Fig.4, being in the form of a shallow pan which is preferably divided by aseries of crossing ribs G into any desired number of pockets or recessesto receive the active material, which may be applied in the form of apaste or powder or otherwise produced, as is common and well understoodin this art.

The ribs 0 may extend across the cupplates in any direction desired toform any shaped cups or cells thereon and may be of any desired number,according to the proportion of lead alloy forming the plate and theactive material which it is desired to secure. The cells of the platesare filled flush with the upper edge thereof with the active material,and the plates are preferably set in a horizontal position, asillustrated in Fig. 2, in which position it is practically impossiblefor the active material to fall out of or become dislodged from theplates.

Instead of placing separators between the plates of a pile, which isnecessary in the ordinary form of batteries of this class, where theplates are set on edge with the positive plates alternating with thenegative plates, I propose to form my piles of plates separately, and tothis endeach plate is first cast in the form shown in Fig. 3, with theprojection D thereon. The plates after being filled with the activematerial are arranged side by side in a suitable casting-mold and arethen united by casting the bar E, which not only electrically connectsall of the plates of a pile and I firmly separates and supports them,but may be extended beyond the end plate of the pile, so as to afiord arest for the pile at the bottom and a terminal or binding post F at thetop outside of the cell, in which the pile is placed. I then cast. oneach corner of the plates the bars G, which fuse with and alsoelectrically connect the plates as Well as forming a means for firmlyseparating and supporting the plates, such bars being extended at thebottom a distance corresponding with the extension of the barE tosupport the lower plate of the pile above the bottom'of the cell. Boththe positive and the negative piles are formed in the same way. Thenwhen the piles are ready to be placed in a cell for service I secure, byscrewing or otherwise to the corner-posts G of one of the piles,preferably the negative pile, a block or strip H of insulating material,which projects beyond the posts to which they are attached and serves tohold the corner-posts G, as well as the plates of the positive andnegative piles, out of elec- It will also be found desirable to attachto or place under the posts E and G of the negative pile blocks ofinsulating material I, which will be of espei trical contact with eachother.

cial advantage when the battery is used portably, during which the washof the electro- 6 lytic fluid may possibly deposit some of the activematerial upon the bottom of the cell.

consequence, and by having the plates cupshaped and rigidly connectedand supported, so that they cannot change relative position whether inor out of their cells, the active material will be permanently retainedwithin the cup-plates with but slight possibility of being dislodged anddeposited on the bottom of the cell, while separators would neither beuseful nor necessary, as they are with the ordinary form ofbattery-plate, to retain the active material in place.

My invention possesses many advantages over the prior art that willreadily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art and the form inwhich it may be embodied may vary widely from that shown and describedwith= out departing from the spirit of myinvention, and all suchvariations would therefore fall Within the purview of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

A storage battery comprising a positiveand a negativeelement,independent of each other each element consisting of a pile ofnon-perforated cup-plates composed of lead alloy for containing theactive material, the plates of each pile being of the same shape anddimensions and arranged one above the other and each being provided witha projection on one side thereof, a bar cast upon and connecting all ofsaid projections and terminating in a binding-post, one or more barscast upon and connecting said plates at other points, and blocks orstrips of insulating material secured to one of said piles or elementsand bearing against the others so as to maintain the piles in electricseparation, substantially as described.

GEORGE W. I-IOUGH.

Witnesses:

JAMES H. RAYMOND, F. H. DRURY.

